In the last 41 years, Herman Wallace has been incarcerated for a robbery he did commit, indicted for a murder a court ruled he didn't and diagnosed with a cancer that will end his life. But Tuesday night, he passed through the prison gates and, as a free man, made his way back to the city in which he grew up -- New Orleans.

For a while Tuesday evening, it looked as though Wallace wouldn't be released. First, supporters said Elayn Hunt Warden Howard Prince left to eat dinner, claiming he couldn't allow Wallace's release because he'd already left the grounds. But a federal judge ordered him back and after another hour of wrangling, Wallace emerged from the gates of the prison in the back of an ambulance.

The 71-year-old former Black Panther and member of "the Angola Three" was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer earlier this year and has just days or weeks to live.

Supporters said Wallace will spend his final days surrounded by friends and family in his hometown. Hospice care is waiting for him in New Orleans, but supporters said late Tuesday due to his precarious medical state, Wallace will instead be diverted, at least for now, to LSU Medical Center for treatment.

Wallace's release was first ordered early Tuesday by Judge Brian A. Jackson of the Middle District Court of Louisiana. Jackson also overturned a 1974 conviction in which Wallace was found guilty of the murder of a young Angola prison guard.

The same day, East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore appealed the ruling. But by late afternoon, Jackson threw out the appeal and ordered Wallace's immediate release.

Wallace's legal team, two long-time friends and a camera crew shooting a documentary met him at the gates. Ashley Wennerstrom, a program director at Tulane's School of Medicine and friend of Wallace, told Wallace, "You're going home, baby." Maria Hinds, a graphic designer who has known Wallace for five years, stroked his head.

By Tuesday evening, they had made the one-hour journey back to New Orleans, where Wallace will receive medical treatment for his cancer.

Wallace's story behind bars begins just over four decades ago, when he was first sent to prison at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, more commonly known as Angola or "The Farm." While serving time for a robbery conviction, he and fellow inmate Albert Woodfox started a local chapter of the Black Panthers and advocated against the culture of violence and rape pervasive there at
the time.

Tensions were high at the prison in the late 1960s and early 70s, when the inmate population -- as today -- was mostly black. But, unlike today, at that time the guards were all white. Before long, Wallace and Woodfox were implicated in the savage stabbing death of a well-liked, young Angola guard named Brent Miller.

They both maintained their innocence in the murder, saying they were only implicated because of the prison leadership's worries over the growth of Angola's Black Panther chapter.

They were indicted by all-male, all-white grand juries in 1972, and convicted in 1974. Physical evidence was scant and Wallace contended an inmate witness in his trial was promised concessions by prison leadership if he testified against Wallace.

After the trial, each man was confined to small one-room cells for the next four decades. Robert King, another prisoner and Black Panther party member, was convicted of the murder of another inmate and also thrown into solitary.

Together
they came to be known as "The Angola Three" after a fellow Black
Panther member was the first to discover their decades in isolation in
the late 1990s. King was released with the help of inmate rights
activists in 2001 after 29 years in prison.

When Wallace was diagnosed with advanced liver cancer earlier this year, he won reprieve from the confinement of the cell and was placed in the hospital wing at Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, about 40 miles southeast of Baton Rouge.

But his cancer was so advanced, treatment was halted almost immediately. When it became clear he had months or weeks to live, Jackson ordered his release. But the overturning of Wallace's sentence could reverberated beyond his case.

Woodfox, who is still held in solitary confinement at at David Wade Correctional Center in Homer, is currently seeking a restraining order against the state for daily strip and cavity searches by guards at the facility. Woodfox is also seeking his release.

"Litigation challenging Mr. Wallace's unconstitutional confinement in solitary confinement for four decades will continue in his name. It is Mr. Wallace's hope that this litigation will help ensure that others, including his lifelong friend and fellow 'Angola 3' member, Albert Woodfox, do not continue to suffer such cruel and unusual confinement even after Mr. Wallace is gone," Wallace's legal team said Tuesday.

For now, Woodfox remains the final member of the Angola 3 behind bars.

. . . . . . .

Lauren McGaughy is a state politics reporter based in Baton Rouge. She can be reached at lmcgaughy@nola.com or on Twitter at @lmcgaughy.